The New Rules of Strength

Standing in one of Southern California's typically well-appointed athletic clubs, Robert dos Remedios folds his arms, furrows his brow, and points his stubbled chin at various men in the gym.

"Look at that guy on the leg-extension machine," he says. "You never isolate muscles like that in the real world. . . ."

"See that kid in front of the mirror doing dumbbell curls? He wants to get big, but he should train to get strong. He'd get double the benefit in half the time. . . ."

"And how about all those people on the treadmills watching TV? Do you think they're really out of their comfort zones?"

That there's more designer water in here than sweat gripes him. "I don't want to sound negative," Dos Remedios says, "but most people don't understand training fundamentals or what it means to train hard."

To learn what it means to train really, really hard, travel a few miles from that posh club to the gym at College of the Canyons, in Santa Clarita, California. One minute, members of the football squad are snatching mammoth dumbbells off the floor with one hand, pushing them overhead, and then stepping up onto makeshift boxes. The next, they're doing torturous variations of pushups and bridges, all designed to promote strength and explosiveness.

"Let's go, guys!" screams one player with agony on his face and a puddle beneath his chest. "This is what makes you the best!"

Coach Dos, as he's known to these athletes, is the squad's director of speed, strength, and conditioning. He strides through the suffering with his arms crossed, like a captain overseeing his galley slaves. "Push the pace! Push the pace!" he bellows. "You're personally offending me! Let's get something out of this!"

They crumple to the floor in exhaustion when they're finished, 30 minutes later. "By training like this, not only are you going to look strong, but you're also going to be strong," says Dos Remedios. "And you're going to see your performance improve. Follow these principles and you'll become stronger, bigger, and leaner."

Those aren't idle promises. The football team at this obscure community college north of Los Angeles is 67-7 since 2001. It's one reason the National Strength and Conditioning Association and coaches across the country chose Dos Remedios, and not some strength guru at some big-time program, as the 2006 Collegiate Strength Coach of the Year.

How 41-year-old Dos Remedios molds what he calls "lumps of clay" into prized Division I and even professional athletes in less than a year with no money is the basis of this article and his new book, Men's Health Power Training (Rodale, 2007). His principles can work for you, but you'll need an open mind, a willingness to recast your fitness goals, and, of course, the guts to withstand some torture.

The 5 Iron Rules of Training

Dos Remedios—whose name, incidentally, means "of the remedy" in Portuguese—bases his program on five bedrock strength-training principles.

1. Strive for strength, not size

Like most men, you want a mighty chest, big biceps, and washboard abs. But instead of training like a bodybuilder and relying on single-joint exercises designed to isolate specific muscles, start training like an athlete. You'll finally build the body you want as you also improve your performance, minimize injury, burn fat, and feel more motivated.

"Look at the body on that guy," says Dos Remedios, pointing to a shirtless specimen walking off the field after an evening workout. "Look how cut he is. But he's not doing hundreds of crunches, curls, and seated calf raises. His body is a product of athletic conditioning."

Instead of focusing just on getting big, Dos Remedios wants you to concentrate on getting strong. That way, you sculpt the body you want along with a valuable bonus: functional fitness.

Swap this for that

: If you're doing any of the single-joint exercises listed below, try replacing them with the corresponding compound exercises. For example, if you're doing 25-pound biceps curls, you'll probably be able to handle 50s for bent-over rows. You'll build strength and burn more calories, and the extra weight will create added muscle stress and trigger more testosterone production. The result: Your biceps will grow faster than they would with simple curls.

Single-joint

Compound

Biceps curl

Bent-over row

Calf raise

Clean pull

Leg extension

Lunge or stepup

Crunch

Cable woodchopper

2. Embrace progressive overload"Progressive overload" means spending more time in your discomfort zone. "It's the most basic of all strength-training principles," Dos Remedios says, "but it's the one people understand least. The human body is amazing. The more work you do, the more you will be capable of doing over time." He's talking about manipulating loads and volumes during strength and cardio workouts for continuous progress.

More time in your discomfort zone equals less time in the gym. This is why Dos Remedios usually trains for just 35 to 45 minutes a day, and why his athletes are in the gym for only 30 to 40 minutes two or three times a week.

Cycle your workouts

: You won't make much progress doing 3 sets of 10 for the rest of your life. To build strength, it's smarter to alternate 3-week cycles within 12-week training periods, an approach called periodization. Say, for example, you're accustomed to bench-pressing 150 pounds for 3 sets of 10 in every chest workout. Your period-ized plan might look something like this.

Weeks 1-3

Three sets of 10 with 150 lb for a total volume of 4,500 lb (3x10x150)

Weeks 4-6

Four sets of 5 with 175 lb, for 3,500 lb

Weeks 7-9

Three sets of 8 with 160 lb, for 3,840 lb

Weeks 10-12

Five sets of 4 with 185 lb, for 3,700 lb

Notice how the weight you're lifting and your total volume cycle and progress over time while ensuring that your muscles have plenty of time to adapt. This produces more strength and size as the load on your muscles keeps increasing.

3. Balance your movementsStrength requires balance. But on our visit to that SoCal athletic club, Dos Remedios counted three times as many push-based strength machines as he did pull-based ones. "If you're bench-pressing 3 sets of 10, you also need to be doing some exercise, such as horizontal pullups or standing cable rows, where you're pulling for 3 sets of 10," he says. "If you're not, structural problems develop."

Yin-yang your gym time:

Dos Remedios has identified eight key movements that are fundamental to strength, sports, and everyday living. They are listed next to their counterparts below. Perform the exercises with their complements. You don't have to do all of these movements every time you step into the gym, but they should be equally represented across your entire training plan.

Horizontal Push

Horizontal Pull

Bench press

Bent-over row

Pushup

Horizontal pullup

Dip

Standing cable row

Vertical Push

Vertical Pull

Shoulder press

Chinup/pullup

Push press

Lat pulldown

Knee-Dominant

Hip Dominant

Squat

Good morning

Lunge

Back extension

Rotational Core

Stabilized Core

Russian twist

Plank

Windshield wiper

Side bridge

Cable woodchopper

Barbell rollout

4. Become unstableIn life, we usually reach or step with one arm or one leg at a time. Then we hit the gym, and we immediately plant both feet or grab a bar with both hands. This "bilateral bias," as Dos Remedios calls it, often results in a dominant limb negotiating more of the weight than its weaker counterpart. This can lead to physical imbalances, performance flaws, and eventual injury.

"Say you can bench-press 400 pounds," says Dos Remedios, who was once an offensive lineman at the University of California at Berkeley. "You probably think you're pretty strong. But I guarantee you won't be able to lift two 200-pound dumbbells the same way. That's because each arm is now required to work independently."

Training with one arm or leg at a time creates instability. Muscles, especially those in the core, compensate by firing. So you're not only working to move the weight, you're also working to stay balanced.

Do more unilateral exercises

: When Dos Remedios devises programs for his athletes, he works from an extensive menu of exercises. For example, he may have them bench-press on Monday but then do different horizontal-pushing exercises (say, a single-arm dumbbell incline press, or pushups) for the next two workouts. "When we finally get around to bench-pressing again, everybody's stronger because of the carryover," he says. To apply the same principle to your workout, use this chart for occasional substitutions.

Bilateral

Unilateral

Barbell squat

Forward lunge

Bench press

Dumbbell alternating bench press

Pushup

Side-to-side pushup

Lat pulldown

One-arm lat pulldown

Good morning

Single-leg Romanian deadlift

Back extension

Single-leg back extension

Shoulder press

Dumbbell one-arm push press

5. Do it all explosivelyTo Dos Remedios, it's not enough to just lift a weight. He wants you to explode with it--that is, raise it as fast as you can while still retaining control. This is also known as speed-strength conditioning, and it has great influence on power, endurance, and metabolism. Be forewarned: This training style will gas you like never before.

Light the fuse

: Olympic barbell and powerlifting exercises, such as squats, clean and jerks, and snatches, are the best moves for explosiveness. Here are some alternatives.

Body-weight squat jumps:

Stand with your hands behind your head, squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor, and jump as high as possible. Rest 3 to 5 seconds and repeat 10 to 12 times.

Dumbbell squat press:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding dumbbells at your shoulders. In one continuous movement, squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Stand while driving the weights overhead. Lower back to the squat position and repeat for 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps.

The 7-minute Warmup

Before starting a workout as intense as Dos Remedios's, muscles and tendons need to be warm and pliable. He knows you're a busy guy, so here's how to start them cooking in just 7 minutes.

Aerobics (2 to 5 minutes)

: Light jogging, jumping rope, or doing jumping jacks

Mobility circuit (2 to 3 minutes)

: Mobility movements are dynamic flexibility patterns. This means they help improve range of motion by elongating muscles. Set a barbell in the squat rack and follow the patterns outlined in the accompanying photos.

Bar warmup (1 to 2 minutes)

: Using only an unweighted Olympic bar, perform 5 reps of each of the following movements: body-weight squat jump, push press, front squat, and bent-over row.

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